Marvin Lewis may originally be from a small rural suburb outside of Pittsburgh and he may have spent the past 17 years coaching in the National Football League out east but to the untrained eye, Lewis could be perceived as someone who has lived in Pocatello his entire life.
Last Thursday, Lewis made the return to Pocatello and ate at the Sandpiper with his wife, something he admitted he couldn’t afford to do when he was attending college.
He was being honored with the 2012 Distinguished Alumni Award, the highest award an ISU alumnus can receive. But before receiving the award, Lewis spent the day talking with the current ISU players and coaches, taking a tour of campus and addressing members of the media.
He had the appearance of a regular Pocatello citizen. His dress was modest and low-key. There was nothing flashy about his appearance.
Perhaps the most expensive thing he had with him was a Cincinnati Bengals shoulder bag. He didn’t dress or act like a man who is entering the second year of a contract extension worth over 6 million dollars.
At the press conference he looked nervous as he addressed members of the media and he talked about the life lessons he learned while at ISU.
“Whether it be the coaches or teachers, former trainer in Phil Luckey, to the equipment personnel in John Griggs, and others like them that treated you the right way,” said Lewis. “They taught you how to treat people the correct way.”
Lewis spent only nine years at Idaho State University as a football player and as a graduate assistant. ISU offered Lewis a scholarship after a spot opened up when one of ISU’s recruits decided to serve an LDS mission instead of play football.
“I can remember the very day in August of 1976 walking through the doors of the dome,” said Lewis. “They walked myself and Bob Matsey, who ironically was also from the Pittsburgh area, and showed us the dome back in 1976.”
Lewis accepted the offer and played linebacker for the Idaho State Bengals for four years. While at ISU he was a three-time All Big Sky selection but the team didn’t achieve a tremendous amount of success and Lewis went undrafted.
“When I came to college, I really wanted to stay in football and to be a coach. I was very fortunate to,” said Lewis. ISU kept Lewis on as a graduate assistant coach and he would go on to be ISU’s linebacker’s coach for the next three years.
“I remember walking across the field with Jim Koetter [Former ISU quarterback] one day over to the dome as a graduate assistant coach,” said Lewis.
“And I remember saying to him that I never won more than eight games. He said, ‘Oh, we will win more than that this year.’”
Apparently Koetter knew what he was talking about. The next year, the Bengals went on to win the National Championship.
As a linebacker coach he was a part of ISU’s famous ‘bend-but-not-break’ defense. He would coach at ISU for three more seasons before moving on while earning his master’s degrees.
While at ISU, he met his wife Peggy in Garrison Hall. He was here when the Eli M. Oboler Library was built and can remember walking across the field from Garrison Hall to the Holt Arena every day.
After leaving ISU, he became an assistant coach at Long Beach State University and two other college programs before landing a job in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
On the NFL level he has received a tremendous amount of success. He has coached in two Superbowls in 1992 and 2000 as a linebacker coach and as a defensive coordinator. He was the defensive coordinator for the 2000 Baltimore Ravens where he was responsible for arguably one of the best defensives in NFL history.
In 2001 he was elected into the Idaho State Hall of Fame.
Lewis finally got his chance at a head coaching position in the NFL in 2003 when he was hired by the Cincinnati Bengals. Since being hired he has remained there for nine years, which is no small accomplishment in the NFL.
He is the second longest tenured coach in the NFL and has coached the Cincinnati Bengals for nine years. In 2009 the Associated Press named Lewis Coach of the Year.
He holds the franchise record for most wins and led the Bengals to consecutive playoff appearances for the first time in 30 years in 2011 and 2012.
He credits all his success to his time at ISU.
“I would not have been able to do what I am doing today had it not been for Idaho State,” Lewis said.
“It has been a lot of time and a lot of great memories of being here in Pocatello.
I learned how to communicate with people, how to coach and teach football from the coaches I had here and all the people in the community that were so instrumental in my own development. I am just very fortunate to come here,” said Lewis.
